A most common household tool is the “fly swatter.” Virtually every home needs an implement for killing insects, particularly flying insects that are typically commonly referred to as “flies.” However, in addition to the common housefly, other insects such as bees, wasps, roaches and so forth that run, fly and crawl around a house are most expeditiously killed by use of a fly swatter. This commonly used appliance is formed of a head portion having an elongated handle extending from it. Up until recently, the head portion was commonly made of screen wire and frequently the handle portion was made of stiffer wire. Currently fly swatters typically have a head portion that is made of plastic with a handle existing from the head portion. Wire is still commonly used for the handles however plastic handles are also employed. Inexpensive fly swatters are molded of plastic with the head portion being integral with the handle. A fly swatter head portion is typically square or rectangular and of a size of about 16-25 square inches. The handle is usually about 18-30 inches long. The head portion is usually formed of screen wire or perforated plastic to allow air to freely pass therethrough as the swatter is swung to engage a fly or other insect.
Fly swatters work very successfully as is evident from their pervasive usage. However, there is one problem with the typical fly swatter and that is that a fly resting on a support surface is killed by mashing or squashing the fly against the support surface. When a fly is killed by being struck with the commonly employed fly swatter, an unsanitary situation is created. The body contents of the fly are frequently forced out against the support surface. This not only creates an unsanitary situation, but if the support surface happens to be porous (such as a table cloth or other furniture covering) the mashed fly can result in the discoloration or staining of the cloth material. Even if the fly is killed on a surface that has a hard finish, such as wood furniture or the like, it frequently still leaves a mess that must be cleaned up. If a fly or other insect is killed against wallpaper a permanent marking on the wallpaper can occur.
For all these reasons it is desirable that a means be provided for killing a fly that does not result in mashing the fly against the surface on which the fly rests.
Others have attacked the problem of killing flies without smashing them against a support surface, such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,673,730 entitled “Fly Swatter” that issued on Jul. 4, 1972. This patent provides a fly swatter that has a perforated sheet of resilient plastic material to which is bonded relatively thick cushioning strips of sponge-like plastic material. The swatter in this disclosure has a problem in that the cushioning strips are formed in a pattern that extend across the face of the perforated sheet, creating a situation wherein the likelihood of engaging a fly with the cushioning material is significant. That is, it would take an accurate aim to strike a fly in such a way as to avoid contact of the fly with the cushioning strips.
Other prior art references that relate to killing an insect with a fly swatter device without smashing the insect include U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,161,654; 2,618,882 and 4,787,171. Each of these patents has problems that have prevented the inventions from becoming widely used.
For other background information relative to the subject matter of this invention, reference may be had to the following United States patents:
Pat. No.Inventor(s)Title1,161,654GomberInsect Killing Device1,299,580KrumlawInsect Destroyer2,618,882MartinFly Swatter2,686,746HarneyBinding Tape for the Edges of Mesh FlySwatters and the Like3,673,730HegenbergerFly Swatter4,593,489Gott et al.Insect Swatter4,651,464BakerInsect Swatter Having Continuous Planar Softand Rigid Surfaces4,653,222ViscosiInsect Swatter4,787,171DagenaisInsect Swatter5,269,092CobbleFly Trap Apparatus5,586,407RaymondSwatter and Method of Using the Same